Double-Spacing Your Document

If you are writing for a living, you already know that many publishers require a printed copy of your manuscript to be submitted double-spaced. This allows them to manually edit the manuscript prior to typesetting. (Yes, there are still some publishers who do not edit manuscripts on-line. Sad, but true.) As you are writing, you probably will want to keep your manuscript single-spaced so you can see more of it on the screen at a time. When you are ready to print, there is a quick way to double-space your document:

1. Save your document.
2. Press Ctrl+A or choose Select All from the Edit menu.
3. Display the Paragraph dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.) (In Word 2007 display the Home tab of the ribbon and click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Paragraph group. In older versions of Word choose Paragraph from the Format menu.) Notice that none of the fields are filled in. This is because you have selected the entire document, and no single paragraph setting applies to the entire document.
4. Choose Double in the Line Spacing box.
5. Click on OK.
6. Print your document.
7. Close your document without saving.

This last step is important. If you save your document before exiting, then the double spacing will be permanently saved with the document, as well.